cnbc's john forte has the latest. >> guys, it would be a huge deal ranking among the biggest private equity deals of all time, market cap north of $20 billion. rumor has it that several large banks have been contacted on the possibility of taking dell private. dell says it won't comment on rumors or speculation. the stock, meanwhile, was up 13% in the close. the underlying issue here is the pc ecosystem. dell was the poster child for the pc in the '90s. the ecosystem somehow falling apart, thanks to smartphones, tablets and just a general decline there. general sales were down 8% in q3. gardener estimates they were down again nearly 5% in q4. at dell, pcs are half of revenue as of last quarter. both laptops and desktops are shrinking quickly. laptops down 26% last quarter. desktop revenue down 8%. the consumer business actually lost money. what's the road map to turning things around? networkering, serves and storage are doing pretty well for dell. although it's not clear how taking thinks private would grow those faster. it's worth noting that dell is not alone in its current buyout